Max Holloway is days away from a big money rematch against Conor McGregor at UFC 329. There’s a good chance their bout will be the biggest fight of the year, and it’s quite a statement from the promotion that they decided to place “Blessed” in line for a red panty night with McGregor.
Holloway’s last fight was a disappointing one-sided loss to Charles Oliveira for the BMF belt that saw the Hawaiian get taken down and trapped on the ground by “Do Bronx” for five largely uneventful rounds. A lot of people were upset with Oliveira for fighting that way when the Baddest Motherf–ker belt was on the line, but Holloway largely absolved his opponent for taking a strategic path to the win.
“To just put it plain and simple, I’m not a complainer, so I’m not going to complain,” Holloway told ESPN in a new interview. “And at the end of the day everybody keeps talking about, ‘How you feel,’ because around the BMF belt, there’s a certain aura. And of course, there’s a certain aura. And so many people were used to that aura with the lineage of the belt. But you can’t be mad at Charles because he went out there and just did what he thought he should do to win.”
“That doesn’t line up with the belt, but it’s still a fight. So at the end of the day, be mad at me because I should have stopped him, but I didn’t. I had my opportunities to go in there and fight my fight. I didn’t. He went out there, he fought a different fight. Of course, in my mind too, when I think of BMF, I think of certain fights. And that wasn’t the fight we got. The guy still got a win, and it is what it is.”
Holloway did note that his certified BMF style of fighting has the UFC calling him for big fights despite any setbacks in the cage.
“It proves a point: in the UFC, it’s not even [about] winning in the sport,” Holloway said. “Winning is great, winning is awesome, but how many times do we see guys winning, and they don’t get certain opportunities? You gotta win in the sport, but you gotta win excitingly. We are in the entertainment business. So at the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m here … he’s talking about it.“
